Pope Francis has called on the UN to do more to help the poor and encourage the "legitimate redistribution" of wealth.

"In the case of global political and economic organization,
much more needs to be achieved, since an important part of
humanity does not share in the benefits of progress and is in
fact relegated to the status of second-class citizens,"
Francis told Ban Ki-Moon on Friday.

During his latest meeting with UN officials, the Pope said that
despite the decrease in poverty, "the world's peoples deserve
and expect even greater results."

Francis also appeared to criticize recent sessions by two UN
committees - one on sexual abuse and the other on torture - which
saw the Catholic Church's opposition to abortion under fire.

The Pope told Ban Ki-Moon that "life is sacred and inviolable
from conception to natural death."

Following the meeting, Ban Ki-Moon renewed his invitation for the
Pope to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,300 years and the
first-ever Latin American pontiff, has frequently called for
economic changes and expressed his desire to bring the Catholic
Church closer to the poor.

He also attacked the global economic system, which, as he put it
last September, shouldn’t be based on "a god called
money" anymore.

Francis is known as the "slum bishop" in his native
Buenos Aires, as he often paid visits to shanty towns.